Archer Daniels Midland

Archer Daniels Midland (ADM) "is one of the world's largest processors of oilseeds, corn, and wheat. Its main offerings include soybean, peanut, and other oilseed products. From corn, it produces syrups, sweeteners, citric and lactic acids, and ethanol, among other items. ADM also produces wheat and durum flour for bakeries and pasta makers. It processes cocoa beans and has a variety of other business interests, ranging from fish farming to banking and insurance. Archer Daniels Midland has interests in food processors in Asia, Canada, Europe, South America, and the US."

ADM conducting carbon capture and storage project in Illinois
Archer Daniels Midland's Decatur Plant is a coal-fired power station at an agricultural processing facility near Decatur, Illinois. The plant is currently the site of a carbon capture and storage demonstration project. The project aims to drill down to a 600-million-year-old layer of sandstone, where ADM hopes to bury about 1 million metric tons of CO2. The project is estimated to cost $84 million, with $66.7 million contributed by the Department of Energy. The project has made the most progress of any other federally-sponsored coal sequestration project in the U.S. The drillers have already dug through 5,300 feet and have 2,700 feet remaining before they reach the sandstone layer.

Food safety bills: corporate controlled food supply
In early 2009, corporations like Monsanto, ADM, Sodexo and Tyson Foods wrote and sponsored "food safety" bills which, according to critics; hand control and policing of food to factory farms and corporations. They point out that bills impose industrial, anti-farming "standards" to independent farms. Also, that they subject those who do not use chemicals and fertilizers to severe penalties, which apply even to producers growing food for their own consumption. The Food Safety Modernization Act of 2009: HR 875 was introduced by Rosa DeLauro, whose husband (Stanley Greenburg) works for Monsanto. According to critics, the bill includes criminalization of seed banking, prison terms and confiscatory fines for farmers; 24 hour GPS tracking of their animals and warrentless government entry. ,

Case study in corporate welfare
In 1995, James Bovard of the Cato Institute described the corporate welfare that ADM receives from the government. He wrote "The Archer Daniels Midland Corporation (ADM) has been the most prominent recipient of corporate welfare in recent U.S. history. ADM and its chairman Dwayne Andreas have lavishly fertilized both political parties with millions of dollars in handouts and in return have reaped billion-dollar windfalls from taxpayers and consumers. Thanks to federal protection of the domestic sugar industry, ethanol subsidies, subsidized grain exports, and various other programs, ADM has cost the American economy billions of dollars since 1980 and has indirectly cost Americans tens of billions of dollars in higher prices and higher taxes over that same period.

"Thanks to its multi-million-dollar hustling in Washington, a company that lives and dies on the generosity of the American taxpayer has managed to get itself revered as a great public servant. Although ADM is not the only corporation with its hand out in Washington, it is easily one of the most successful beggars on the block.

"Andreas recently told a reporter for Mother Jones, 'There isn't one grain of anything in the world that is sold in a free market. Not one! The only place you see a free market is in the speeches of politicians.'"

Political contributions
Archer Daniels Midland gave $120,000 to federal candidates in the 2006 election through its political action committee - 44% to Democrats and 56% to Republicans.

Lobbying
The company spent $300,000 for lobbying in 2006. All lobbying was done using in-house lobbyists.

Personnel
Key executives with 2007 pay:
 * Patricia A. Woertz, Executive Chairman, Chief Executive Officer, President, $7,637,295
 * Douglas J. Schmalz, Chief Financial Officer and Senior Vice President, $759,000 (also exercised $2,210,000 in options)
 * Lewis W. Batchelder, Senior Vice President of Agricultural Services, $3,913,201
 * John D. Rice, Executive Vice President of Global Marketing and Risk Management, $3,297,597
 * David J. Smith, Executive Vice President, $897,000

Board members:
 * Patricia A. Woertz - Chairman, Chief Executive Officer and President
 * Alan L. Boeckmann - Chairman and Chief Executive Officer for Fluor Corporation (an engineering and construction firm)
 * Mollie Hale Carter - Chief Executive Officer, Sunflower Bank and Vice President, Star A, Inc. (a farming and ranching operation)
 * Roger S. Joslin - Former Vice Chairman of State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Company
 * Antonio Maciel Neto - Chief Executive Officer, Suzano Papel e Celulose (a producer of paper and pulp products)
 * Patrick J. Moore - Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer of Smurfit-Stone Container Corporation (a producer of paperboard and paper-based packaging products)
 * M. Brian Mulroney - Senior Partner, Ogilvy Renault (a law firm)
 * Thomas F. O'Neill - Principal of Sandler O'Neill & Partners, L.P. (an investment banking firm)
 * O. Glenn Webb - Farmer; Former Chairman of the Board and President, GROWMARK, Inc. (a farmer-owned cooperative)
 * Kelvin R. Westbrook - President and Chief Executive Officer of Millennium Digital Media, LLC (a broadband services company)
 * Director Emeritus - Dwayne O. Andreas - Chairman Emeritus

Former:
 * William Henry Camp, Executive Vice President of Global Processing, $841,000 (2006)

Contact details
4666 Faries Parkway Decatur, IL 62525 Phone: 217-424-5200 Fax: 217-424-6196 Web: http://www.admworld.com

Related SourceWatch articles

 * Grocery Manufacturers Association
 * Processed food industry

External resources

 * Profile: Archer Daniels Midland Co-op America, accessed February 2008.

External articles

 * Sasha Lilley, "Green Fuel's Dirty Secret", CorpWatch, June 1, 2006.
 * Doug Cameron, "ADM Makes Ethanol Push Into Brazil With Venture," Wall Street Journal (sub req'd), November 5, 2008.